A survey circulated by a far-right-linked student group has sparked outrage, with educators, historians and veterans warning that profiling teachers for their political views echoes fascist-era practices. FEDERICA ADRIANI reports
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Silent spring?
Spring has sprung in all its glory — but DAVE BANGS is disturbed by the absence of a crucial sound
A cuckoo
[Alan Shearman / Creative Commons]
In reopening relations with China, the PM showed an uncharacteristic grasp of power, proportion and Britain’s diminished place in the world – a lesson many in Westminster still refuse to learn, says ANDREW MURRAY
Dockers from Italy, Greece and beyond will stage co-ordinated port blockades on February 6, declaring ‘we don’t work for war’ – in a call in solidarity with Palestine. ALFIO BERNABEI reports
The British Prime Minister’s Beijing visit marked the end of a long diplomatic hiatus and produced tangible, if limited, economic results, says KEITH BENNETT
Schoolchildren who joined a nationwide anti-Trump walkout learned more outside the classroom than in it but could still be penalised, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
The suicide of Tamara Jade Logon after her disability benefits were wrongly withdrawn is the latest in a series of deaths in which coroners have cited DWP failings, exposing a pattern of preventable harm, says DYLAN MURPHY
I HAD planned a more sharply political topic for these notes, but spring has arrived full-on. It demands attention. If you’ve any free time, then let it demand yours.
The oaks are in golden-green leaf. The bluebells are a hyacinth-scented carpet of blue-purple. Small lanes and woodland rides are a garden of colour. Cuckoo flower, stitchwort, wood spurge, bugle, fading primroses.
Only one thing spoils it. It’s full of odd silences. Odd absences of hoped-for sound.
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